Aftermath
by MissyWoodhouse
Summary: "I thought I lost one of my friends, one of the few you have with my job." "But you didn't." "But I could have. All these hours till we found you. The long hours waiting for you to wake up." Set after CA:TWS / AU
1. Chapter 1

_So here my very first try to write a ff with the Cap…. Hope you like it ;)_

_Oh and the rating is just because I am not quite sure…_

Disclaimer: Not owning anything

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He tried to quiet his thoughts but they kept him busy like bees.  
Seeing her again after this long time brought memories back.

From their time after New York.

The long nights they had sat together, talking or just quietly enjoying each other's company.  
She helped him to get back into life.  
To get used to it.  
To start again after 70 years with no one left.

She told him where he would find Peggy, although Fury didn't approve it.  
He remembered how the others but basically Tony would tease him about their undefined relationship.  
That they behaved more like an old married couple than Clint and Natasha did.

The kisses, their nights together, everything.  
And how she disappeared.  
Of course it had been Fury who sent her back on the Helicarrier.  
And ever since their paths hadn't crossed.

But then she was in the hospital right next to him.  
But all they were able to share were some looks trying to find out if the other one was okay.  
Nothing more said than necessary.  
Not even a small touch which would have been unnoticed by the rest.

It wasn't until she rescued them that they actually talked with each other.  
That she allowed more than just professional.

He remembered her voice after he ordered her to destroy the three Helicarriers.  
The pain.  
The fear to lose him.  
The hurt.  
The will to disobey.  
The hint of love.

xxx

He heard her coming closer but didn't move until he felt her presences next to him.  
"Steve." Her voice was quiet and weak.

She wasn't the deputy director of SHIELD anymore with it gone.  
She wasn't an agent anymore.  
This was one of those few moments when she allowed herself to be Maria.  
Because now she couldn't hide anymore.  
He turned around and after a quick look he knew that she needed a friend.

That she needed him.

"Hey. Up for a coffee? " He offered her and a small smile appeared on her lips.  
"Sure."

He paid her coffee and she didn't argue because she knew he would insist on it.  
They sat down on a bench and watched the people passing by.

"Planning a holiday sometime soon?" Maria finally asked after a long time of silence.  
"I was thinking of Sydney during Christmas. Enjoying the sun while New York is white and cold."  
It was an unspoken rule between them not to talk about business during a coffee break.

"Sounds like a good plan. I like the idea of going to South Africa." She paused for a moment.  
"I thought I wouldn't see you again." He nearly missed the sentence.  
"I thought I lost one of my friends, one of the few you have with my job."  
"But you didn't."  
"But I could have. All these hours till we found you. The long hours waiting for you to wake up."

Her face was an open book.  
All the emotions she had hidden.  
He was taken by surprise.

"You have been there?" A smile formed on his lips.  
"Sam didn't tell me."  
"Because I told him not to."  
"But why?"


	2. Chapter 2

so dear readers here the next bit

disclaimer: still not owning anything but the idea

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_Some days earlier._

_"Maria do you have a moment?"_  
_"Sure." She watched Pepper expectantly as she sat down in the chair across her._  
_"Talk to me." Maria looked confused at the woman in front of her._  
_"About what exactly?" But she eventually knew what Pepper wanted._  
_That she talked to her about this Helicarrier thing._  
_About the fact that she had sat days beside Steve's bed at the hospital and waited for him to wake up._  
_About the fact that she accused herself for doing what she was ordered to._  
_"You know what I mean. But okay, let's play answer the question game." Annoyed Maria rolled her eyes but eventually gave in._  
_"Shoot."_  
_"So how many overtime hours since he left the hospital?" Pepper knew exactly what she needed to ask her to find out what she wanted._  
_"37" She replied silently and endured the harsh gaze of her friend._  
_"He is out for four days now and you have 37 overtime hours? Why don't you visit him, get yourself a hobby or a dog?" Maria sighed and decided to give in._  
_Her friend was right she needed to talk to someone about it._  
_And she didn't have to hide anymore._  
_"I can't do it. I was there yesterday in my car. But somehow I couldn't get myself to leave it. I don't know if I can look into his eyes. I know that he said that I should do it but still. And he wasn't alone."_  
_"Clint, Tony and Bruce were over at his place."_  
_"A good reason not to go upstairs then."_  
_"You should have."_  
_"Just to hear one of Starks annoying pattern?"_  
_"He needs your help. He just got to know that the person who wanted to kill him is his best friend he thought died was a tool of Hydra. Now he disappeared and he wants to find him. He needs you!" Pepper made a pause._  
_"I know that there has been more between the two of you. And t_hat you still have feelings for him." Maria tried to argue but Pepper continued.  
"Otherwise you wouldn't have been there. Go and talk to him."

And now she was sitting with him in a small café and talked about holiday and this Helicarrier thing  
"I don't know. I just wanted to see that I didn't kill you. That you'll make it. That I'm not losing another person I care for."  
He took her hand and squeezed it lightly.  
"Hey, I ordered you to do it. It wouldn't have been your fault." Maria didn't reply and took another sip from her coffee.

Steve watched her.  
He knew that she had hid behind the mask of a serious and distant Agent Hill but now she couldn't do it anymore.  
It wasn't Agent Hill he had fallen in love with back then but the woman who had hid behind the mask.  
This woman knew what she wanted but had her weak moments which make her even more human.  
She herself had told him that there were not many people whom she allowed to look behind her mask which made him happy that she was doing it again.  
That she was talking to him although he had the feeling that there was still something unsaid.  
Something she didn't want to talk about or couldn't talk about.

"Don't worry. Come with me." He took her hand and made her follow him.  
"Where are we going?" He didn't replied as they reached his motorbike and he offered her the place behind him.  
She smiled drunk the rest of her coffee and joined him.  
"Well then, surprise me." She whispered into his ear and wrapped her arms tightly round his waist.


	3. Chapter 3

They drove for a quite a while.  
Leaving the narrow streets of New York behind than the suburbs.  
It wasn't noon yet and Maria enjoyed the warming air blowing at her face.  
She trusted the man sitting in front of her.  
There weren't many people she trusted as much as she did him.  
Especially after learning that SHIELD, which had defined her for so long wasn't what it was meant to be.  
That the brotherhood they thought to be destroyed had infiltrated it.

"We're here." She heard him saying and she felt the motorbike slowing down.  
Steve stopped and parked his bike.  
"Where are we?" Maria asked as she handed him her helmet.  
"I drive often here when all those things just get too much. Fury, Stark, those modern things I still need to get used to. It's so quiet and calm here. It remains me off the time back then."  
Steve took her hand and walked down the main street.  
He was right.  
It was calmer.

Steve stopped at the entrance of a small park.  
"I know this park since my childhood. My parents took me here whenever we visited my grandparents who lived close to here. It had always been one of my favourite places especially after seeing my grandparents. You're the first one I'm bringing here."  
Maria didn't exactly know how to react.  
There hadn't been many people in her life who had shared those special things and places with her.  
And she was the first one Steve brought here made her realise that she wasn't just someone for him.  
"Thank you." She said quietly and both went in the park.

The park was small but tidy.  
Someone seemed to take regularly care of it.  
Steve headed straight for a certain part of it and Maria followed him on a slower pace trying to remember everything she saw still holding his hand.

"That is my favourite spot because you can see the ocean."  
Maria hadn't seen that Steve had stopped and bumped into his shoulder.  
"Hey carefully." He smiled and stepped aside.  
"It's beautiful." Fascinated she looked out on the calm ocean.

They sat there a while just starring out on the blue ocean.  
Once in a while they would talk quietly but most of the time they remained silent.  
At some point Maria laid her head against Steve's shoulder.  
"So what happens next?" She whispered.  
"I don't know. A lot of things are going to change. Some won't. Who knows what is coming."


	4. Chapter 4

Days, weeks and months passed.  
Steve had been right.  
Many things changed.  
Maria together with Fury, Stark and some other former SHIELD Agents had started to build a new secret agency.  
Taking the power from the government to a few people.  
She was not sure if this would make things ultimately better.  
It was hard to find people who you could trust especially former agents.  
But slowly Maria found a new task to fill her life with.

Since she and Steve had been in the park at the small town they had been seeing each other more often.  
He had moved to New York and joined the others at the Avengers Tower.  
They spend evenings together.  
Just the two of them or with the others.  
Either at the Tower or in town.  
But both preferred the evenings without the team around.  
It felt like the old times.  
Like the summer they had spent together.  
Those times both wanted back.  
When everything had been alright.  
When there had been the old order.

"'Ria?" She looked around startled.  
Shyly she looked away as she saw Pepper and Clint looking at her curiously.

It was the usual monthly team dinner.  
Although she would not have admit at the beginning of this Avengers Initiative she really liked it to hear and see how everyone was and what was bothering them.

"The waiter would like to know what you want to eat." Steve repeated his question smilingly.  
"I will take the salmon." Maria replied softly and handed the menu back to the waiting waiter.

It was not easy to go out for dinner with the team in New York but luckily they had found a small but fine restaurant where no one bothered them.  
Of course they had done background researches on everyone working at it.  
Just to ensure that it was a safe place.

Maria watched the others at the table.

Stark and Banner were discussing some scientific theory no one expect them understood.  
Pepper tried talking to Natalie who was not much interested in talking.  
Clint was talking to Steve about the pro and cons of cities like New York compared to smaller towns.

It was a unique group.  
On the one hand everyone was a genius at his or her field and yet there were times where you would not lock them in the same room because they would be at each other's throat.  
Something Maria bothered the most was the tensed relationship between Steve and Stark.

"'Ria you should ponder less and help me to convince Clint that small towns do have their pros." Steve smiled and if she would not have known better she would not have felt the soft touch as his fingers stroke the back of her hand.  
"Barton I have to agree, small towns do have their pros. Especially when you need a place to rest or you simply want to enjoy life itself." Maria replied her eyes fixed on Steve.  
They had been several times to the small park over the past few months and she had learnt to love it.  
It had become her new safe haven.  
A place where she could relax and forget the world around her.  
"You just say it because Steve is manipulating you." Steve looked shyly away but Maria simply smiled.  
"No he simply showed me how it does look like out of this noisy city."


	5. Chapter 5

"You shouldn't be overthinking everything." Steve smiled as he heard Marias voice.  
"I'm not overthinking anything. I'm just enjoying the view and the silence." It was true.  
After the noisy team meeting earlier he was happy to be alone.  
Maria walked up to him.  
Or not being alone entirely.  
Silently they stood next to each other, following their own train of thoughts.  
"The plane leaves tomorrow noon."  
Maria hummed and leaned herself against him.  
He smiled as he placed his arm around her.  
It was just like back then and yet totally different.

The time after New York has been more getting use to the new world and overcome the feelings of lose.  
"I can't wait for those days away."  
"I was surprised to hear that Stark would allow you some days off."  
"Theoretically it was Pepper not him and she thinks that this holiday is way overdue." Steve smiled.  
Surely Pepper wasn't the only one who thought so.  
Maria had invested many hours and ideas in her new job he agreed that she needed a time out of this hectic city.  
"When are you joining me?" She asked and Steve felt her coming to rest on his shoulder.  
"I need to head to Washington first. There is something I need to do." Maria knew that he wanted to visit Peggy.  
"Her doctors say that she is slowly forgetting everything. They suggested that I say goodbye while the memory is a good one. To remember the good."  
And he wanted to tell her about Maria.  
That he wouldn't wait and that he would take this opportunity.  
That he wouldn't look back on what could have been but to look ahead to what could be.  
Just as she had told him.  
"Let's just hope that Tony doesn't create a huge mess or some freak wants to rule the world while we are gone."

* * *

„Passengers for flight 2993 with KLM to Cape Town please proceed to Gate 34." Maria heard the announcement for her flight as she looked around.  
She knew that Steve's flight from Washington had landed an hour ago and he should be on his way over.  
They had discussed the idea of taking one of the Stark Industry jets but decided against it to avoid that anyone knew about them being in Cape Town together, privately and not on a mission.  
A smile formed on her lips as she spotted the tall blonde man.  
If someone would have told her she would have a soft spot for Captain America, she would have simply ignored it.  
But she had to admit that she learned to care for him.  
The more she got to know about him over the last four years the more she found that surprised her and yet didn't at all.  
Basically everyone knew that she wasn't very fond of the idea of the Avenger Initiative.  
Superheroes didn't exist.  
Heroes, yes they exist.  
But Superheroes?  
There were extraordinary people who had achieved something special due to hard work.  
That was why she had held Tony in high regard although he was annoying from time to time.  
He didn't have any special powers or ability – like Bruce or Steve.  
And what did it mean to be a Superhero?  
What was the difference, what made them so special compared to the others?  
How are they something better than police officers, soldiers or firemen?  
Smiling she shook her head before she greeted Steve.  
"Holidays here we come." Maria giggled and wrapped her arm around his waist following the rest of the passengers to Gate C34.

* * *

He watched the woman in front of him who was overlooking the city.  
It was the same woman who had treated him with nothing but mutual respect of a soldier as the first met.  
But then eventually she had allowed herself to get to know Steve Rogers, not Captain America.  
And slowly, very slowly he had gotten to know her.  
She had always made sure that she wouldn't give away too much about herself.  
But somewhere between New York, some missions together, the fall of SHIELD, nights spend together, lots of coffee and now up here at the Table Mountain she had dropped nearly every façade.  
He knew that there are still things and secrets she doesn't talk and he wouldn't force her.  
Maybe, just maybe life would become normal now.  
But for now HYDRA was priority number one.  
Maybe after HYDRA was gone.  
Maybe Bucky would allow him and Sam to find his friend.  
Maybe then he could start over after all he knew was gone.

"Steve you need to see this. The view is beautiful."  
"Yeah, I'll be there in a second." Steve said walking over to her, wrapping his arms around her and listened interested to what she was telling him.

And he had to admit, the view of what could be, was indeed beautiful.

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Thanks to all you amazing readers and to ChElFi and BartWLewis for your reviews and to all for the favorites and follows!

I hope you enjoyed the story. Till next time xx


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